Mad In Pursuit Notebook

Day 6: Salida CO - Taos NM (254 mi)

13 Oct 2008 --What a day… Here we are in Taos New Mexico relaxing in front of a fire, catching our breath from another amazing day. We set out from Salida Colorado this morning to check out the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass – about 11,000 ft high and 16 degrees F. We saw a bit of the other side too, due to a slight map-reading glitch on my part. One of those “Hey, wait-a-minute -- I think we went too far” moments.

Then we headed south on Rt 285 through the high plains – wide and flat cattle and potato-growing country – still at 8000 ft. Hard to believe. We actually saw cowboys herding some small groups of cattle and jumped out of the car for photos, city folk that we are.

We arrived in Taos about 1:30. I could make this town one of my world headquarters, along with Venice. After a snack and a gigantic margarita (for me) we headed out to explore. We barely got two blocks into all the art galleries before closing time. We’re going to be here for 3 nights – nice to settle in a bit. Maybe there won’t be so much to blog about or maybe we’ll have time to catch up with ourselves. I’m just babbling right now.

I need to sort through our photos now. They simply don’t do justice, but are nice reminders of the sights. Interesting that my no-settings phone is taking pictures about as good as my digital camera. It’s really hard to get the full range of bright mountains and sky along with the detailed shadows. I guess that’s why people buy expensive cameras.